Chapter 41: Chapter 41

Bree was relieved to hear that the pastor had locked her guitar back in the closet in the church where he’d kept it the night before. “Here you go, dear,” he said, unlocking the door and handing it to her. Then, he turned to Trent and said, “I’m sorry things didn’t turn out the way you’d expected, son.”

“Thank you,” Trent said, and Bree could tell he wasn’t sure what else to say. The pastor gave them a sympathetic smile and then waved, and Bree and Trent headed out.

The sounds of people talking and laughing came from the building next door, where the reception was supposed to be held. “What is that?” Bree asked, her stomach tightening. Was Monica in there having the reception without Trent?

“I’m not sure. Let’s go find out,” he said tugging her in that direction.

“But what if it’s Monica?”

“It’s not.”

“How do you know that?”

“I got a text from Hank earlier. She went back to the room, crying, as soon as I left, and he followed her.”

“Seriously? Is he picking her over you--again?”

Trent shrugged. “He thinks he loves her. I’m just glad she’s not alone. She deserved what happened, but I still feel bad about it.”

Bree leaned her head against his arm. One of the reasons she’d always loved him was because he was so tenderhearted. She should’ve realized it would be hard for him to walk away from Monica--even if she did completely deserve it.

Trent opened the door to the banquet hall and immediately started laughing. He held the door and ushered Bree inside, and she walked in to see his family and friends inside, eating the food, drinking the champagne, and having a great time. The band had stayed and was playing, and some people were dancing.

“Hey, there they are!” Christy shouted, bounding across the room, no shoes on, her arms wide open. She flung herself at Trent and Bree and wrapped them both in a hug. She smelled like she’d been drinking for a while, which made Bree wonder if maybe she’d been drinking before the wedding, but she was so happy to see her friend, she just hugged her back.

“So glad you’re here!” Abby said, coming over to hug them as well. “It seemed weird eating all of your food without you here, but then, we couldn’t just let it go bad either, could we?”

“No, I think it’s great that you’re here,” Trent said with a broad smile. “This is not exactly what I’d envisioned, but all of my favorite people are here, and I’m ready to party, too.”

“Yes!” Christy said, pumping her fist, and Bree started laughing. It was a side of Trent she rarely saw, but when he took her guitar, set it against the wall, and pulled her out onto the dance floor, she gladly went.

The song was a dance hit from the 1970s, and Trent’s dance skills were better than she remembered from their high school days. “You’ve been practicing,” she said as he moved her around the dance floor.

“Oh, well, I’ve had months of dance lessons just for this event,” he replied, the disgust obvious in his voice.

“Are you serious?” she asked, trying not to laugh.

“Yes. Apparently, my previous dancing skills left much to be desired.”

“Well, you’re a champ now,” Bree assured him, smiling as he twirled her around.

“Thanks. It helps when my partner is enjoying herself instead of counting the steps.”

Bree opened her mouth to ask if it was true that Monica really did that but then closed it. If it was true, she probably didn’t want to know.

A slow song started playing, and Trent pulled her close. Bree closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest. Being in his arms had been a dream for so long, now that she was there, it was almost impossible to believe it was real. He smelled so good, and she could feel his muscles through the fabric of his shirt. His heart was beating in her ear, and it was racing almost as quickly as hers.

It didn’t seem appropriate for them to show too much affection at the moment. The last thing she wanted was for people to start speculating as to whether or not Trent and Bree had been together before he’d called off the wedding.

With his mouth right next to her ear, Trent whispered, “I know this is all sudden, Bree, but I want you to know, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make sure we can be together now. We can take our time, figure it all out, whatever you need.”

She leaned up and looked him in the eyes, and a smile took over her face. “Thanks, Trent. I know we can make it work.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead, and she leaned back into him, never wanting to let him go.

“Hey, Trent!” someone shouted as the song ended. Bree looked up to see it was one of his cousins, a guy she’d met earlier, but she couldn’t remember his name. “Can we cut the cake?”

“You bet,” he replied. “Just leave the top tier, okay?”

“You got it man!”

Bree raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t ask what he wanted the top saved for. Since the band was still playing slow music, she rested her head back on his shoulder and tried to memorize every detail of this moment. She had a feeling, in years to come, she’d look back on this night and smile, no matter what was going on in her life. It was definitely one of the best nights of her life.

A few hours later, after more dancing, eating, and drinking, Bree found herself on a blanket under a full moon on the beach with the man she loved, two glasses, a bottle of champagne, two forks, and the top tier of Trent’s wedding cake. It was delicious.

“You know, it took her about a month to decide what flavors of cake she wanted,” Trent said between bites. They weren’t bothering with plates. The cake sat on its original platter between them on the blanket, the gorgeous detail in the white frosting visible in the moonlight. It was a German chocolate flavor with buttercream frosting, and Bree might’ve eaten the entire tier herself if Trent hadn’t been there, and she hadn’t already stuffed herself on chicken parmesan.

“It’s really good,” she assured him, taking another bite.

“It should be for what I paid for it,” he said with a chuckle. He took another bite, too, and then sat his fork down, clutching his stomach. “It’s very rich. In more ways than one.”

Bree laughed and also set her fork aside. As good as it was, she didn’t have room for another bite. “You know, today did not quite turn out the way that I thought it was going to,” she said, unhooking her shoes and setting them aside.

Trent picked up the cake and set it inside of the box he’d used to transport it, moving the forks, too, so he could get closer to her. “You can say that again.”

She laughed, thinking she might be a little tipsy. “I mean… I didn’t expect you to actually go through with the wedding at all. But then, when I saw that you were going to, I expected you to just marry her already. But the whole time, I thought, if you didn’t marry her, I’d probably still end up on a plane back to Nashville, and maybe you’d call me in a week or two. Or not.”

“You only thought that’s the way it would go because that’s what happened last time.” He put his arm around her shoulders, and Bree snuggled into his chest.

“Maybe a little. But… I never would’ve imagined that we’d end up together--eating your wedding cake.”

He laughed. “Yeah, none of this was what I expected to have happen either, but I’m glad that it did. I couldn't imagine a better way for this evening to end.”

Bree leaned up and kissed his cheek, and he turned to face her, capturing her lips. He tasted even sweeter than usual, since he’d been eating cake. “I love you, Trent,” she said, softly. “I always have, and I always will.”

“I love you, too.” He brushed her hair back and smiled at her. “Hey, wanna go stick our feet in the water?”

“Are you serious?” she asked with a giggle.

“Yeah. Why not?”

“Why not?” she repeated. She already had her shoes off so she waited for Trent to take off his fancy dress shoes and socks and roll his pant legs up. Then, he stood, pulling her up, and they ran off in the moonlight toward the breaking waves.

The water was warm, and there was no one else around. At first, they just splashed around in the surf, but then, the hem of her dress got wet, and the next thing she knew, they were both in the water, splashing each other, soaking wet.

They went from splashing to hugging to kissing to making out in the surf. Bree was lying on top of Trent in the sand, the waves rushing up against them, picking up the skirt of her dress and floating it higher and higher around her waist as her lips devoured Trent’s, his hands working their way through her wet hair and rubbing her legs as she straddled him. She knew they’d talked about taking it slow, but she loved the feel of his hands on her, and with each kiss, she felt herself meld deeper into him.

Trent flipped them over, and Bree brought her knees up on either side of him. In the moonlight, with droplets of water clinging to his hair and rolling down his face, he looked sexier than he ever had before. “I love you, Bree,” he said, his fingers brushing through her tangled hair where it lay on the sand.

“I love you, too.” His lips crashed down on hers as the waves crashed against their tangled bodies, and Bree was ready to give him everything to show him how much she meant those words.